Week 5

I think the two key points to remember from this week's readings were understanding the use of ethics in practising PR and how PR practitioners are to present themselves.

Chapter 5 of the textbook touched on the issue of ethical practice in PR. It divided the manners of which ethics can be worked upon into four roles: counsellor, advocate, corporate monitor, and corporate conscience.

The readings by Drew, S. (2001) and Van Emden, J. & Becker, L. (2004) provided tips on how to make effective presentations which is very essential in practising PR. Therefore, we must not mistake presentations and/or groupwork as tools to be used only in classrooms.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that conflicts are bound to arise from issues that involve ethical complications and/or even moral dilemmas which can disrupt the relationship between PR practitioners and their clients. On one hand, the burden of upholding ethical codes of conduct as expected by the publics rests on the tactics proposed by the PR practitioners. On the other, the clients themselves must bear responsibility on the dire consequences brought about by bad publicity. Either way, it either strengthens or weakens the bond between both parties. The trust factor is hence a key ingredient in ensuring that both parties are willing to work together despite having different ethical codes of conduct. Better yet, they should form a standard set of codes so each is aware of the procedures involved in tackling an issue. As the counsellor/advocate/corporate monitor/corporate conscience, PR practitioners need to know how to effectively present their proposals so that the client will accept a more ethical approach more readily rather than stubbornly insist on the strategy they've mapped out themselves.